Fair Game
by itisunwritten
Summary: "You terrify me 'cause you're a man – you're not a boy. You've got some power and I can't treat you like a toy..." One-shot narrating Emma's thoughts before and during her first date with Killian. {Based in 04x04, Captain Swan, lyrics from Fair Game by Sia}


" _ **You terrify me 'cause you're a man – you're not a boy. You've got some power and I can't treat you like a toy..."**_

 _I have to do this. He's in there. Go, Emma. Now._

Emma stood outside the diner with Henry, who was practically forcing her to talk to Hook.

Hook.

Killian.

 _Whatever._

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" she questioned the boy next to her. She had wanted to ask Hook on a date since the snow monster incident, but never had the guts. As much as she hated to admit it, he still intimidated her, and after being kept up all night analyzing and breaking down the kiss from the night before, Henry suggested she do it that day before she went crazy.

The dark haired boy only smiled. "No, but I want you to be happy." The statement made her heart lurch, and it was the extra push to go in and confront the pirate.

 _Can I convince myself I'm doing this for Henry?_

She took a deep breath and almost charged into the diner toward Hook, who was playing darts perfectly.

 _Even during a stupid game he's playing by himself he's beautiful-_

 _God, keep it together, Emma._

As she walked probably a little too quickly towards him, he immediately got a worried look on his face. "The Snow Queen turn up? Did I miss the search party?"

She was thrown off by his response, realizing they never usually talk outside of cases and danger.

 _Great way to start a relationship, Emma._

"Oh, n-nothing to miss," she stuttered out, more nervous than she thought she would be. "No sign of that ice witch yet."

The worry on his face softened. "That's alright. I just want you to find her."

She took in a sharp breath.

 _Does he care about me?_

"Yeah, I know," she responded shakily. "I... that's not why I'm here."

Going from concerned to confused, he questioned, "Why _are_ you here?"

 _Go for it._

"Well, I thought about what you said last night, about being a survivor, and you're right.

She didn't know to expect from him. She could barely hear _herself_ talk over the blood rushing in her ears, and so she became even more nervous when he looked somewhat hurt, and said, "It's like I said, love. You don't have to worry about me."

 _Go._

"Good, 'cause I'm here to ask you out."

She thought he'd scoff, laugh and tell her to stop joking around. Or tell her that he's seeing someone. Or flat out reject her. But right when the words fell out of her mouth, the dart he was about to throw went off and hit the wall about 4 feet off from the edge of the board.

The blonde tried to continue. "To dinner.. or something..."

Hook looked at her, slight disbelief on his face. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you out?"

His response nearly made Emma sigh with relief.

 _It wasn't a rejection._

 _Keep going._

Keeping their regular banter, she only said, "Should've known you'd be old-fashioned, given your age. What are you, three hundred?"

Fortunately, he answered in his normal, smug, cockiness she had grown to love. "Curses in Neverland may have given me experience, but as you can see, I've retained my youthful glow."

She giggled softly, trying to loosen up, but before she could speak, he added, "I may except on one condition; you let me plan the evening."

Taking offense, she defended herself. "I know how to plan a date!"

Hook didn't miss a beat. "You know how to _chase a monster. I_ know how to plan an evening out."

Before she could stop herself, she said the first thing that came to her mind when it came to 'evenings out' with Captain Hook. "Well, I don't pillage and plunder on the first date, just so you know."

He only smirked.

 _Damn him._

"Well that's because you haven't been out with me yet. See you tonight."

With one final look, she turned and left the diner, the most excited she's been in quite a while.

 _[X]_

"Is this dress okay? Is it too little? Too much?"

Emma couldn't help but talk to herself in the mirror while she got ready for her date. Hook would be there in ten minutes, and she felt like a teenage girl going on her very first date.

"Don't over think it, Emma. You've already kissed him. Several times."

The thought made her giggle. They've already had a few passionate moments, and yet she was nervous as hell about their date. This date meant that she was finally facing her feelings for him, accepting them, not running from them anymore. It was a relief, but it was also _terrifying_.

She heard Mary Margaret talking to Elsa about curses and she knew it was probably time to distract them.

 _I swear, she's more excited about this than I am._

She took one final breath and stepped out of her room, practically shaking in her shoes. "Okay. I want honest opinions. What do you think?" She was hesitant about getting answers, afraid that the answer would be _not good enough._

That's certainly how she felt.

But she knew that she was fine when Snow let out a small "Wow.."

Charming was awestruck as well. "What your mother said…"

Elsa's face showed she agreed with the choice of attire, but she spoke up. "Is that just the corset? Where's the rest of it?"

Emma felt slightly offended, taking it way too much to heart. "This.. _is_ the rest of it…"

Snow picked up the newborn, smiling like she had won the lottery. "Someone's sister's going on a _very_ big date tonight!"

Defending the situation, Emma spoke up. "Let's not oversell-"

Snow interrupted with taking a picture; something her daughter was _not_ thrilled about. "Wow, I really need to get my own place."

"Cut your mother some slack," David said, smiling. "It's not like we got to send you to a ball."

Emma's smile faded a bit, but picked back up. "Are you sure you guys don't want help? Maybe I can get Hook to stay in for the night..."

"My sister put her wedding on hold because of me." It was Elsa's turn to talk now. "I don't want anyone else to stop living their lives on my account."

Then there was a knock at the door.

A part of her hoped it was a false alarm, someone that needed something, or wanted something.

 _Someone that wasn't Hook._

But she felt her heart melted when a usually scruffy pirate was finally dressing the part of regular, _handsome_ 21st century citizen that was going out on a date and maybe-

"You look stunning, Swan," he interrupted her thoughts, one hand in his pocket.

 _Was he trying to be cool or…_

She decided to speak. "You.. look…"

Hook only smiled and said, "I know," stepping inside.

 _Cheeky bastard._

He continued. "Now that I'm certainly in this world, I thought it was time to start dressing the part." Unexpectedly, he pulled out a rose from his pocket, blushing ever so slightly.

Emma was surprised at the gesture, and according to everyone else's faces, they thought so too. "Wow, you really went all out…"

Their moment was interrupted by Snow, sounding quite shocked. "Uh, Emma?"

 _What now?_

She turned back to him, about to apologize about her weird-ass family when she noticed it too. "Is that…"

 _Your hand?_

Like he read her mind, Hook replies, "Mine? Yeah. The Dark One kindly restored what he once took from me. It seems he has indeed changed his ways."

She was tempted to object, because she felt that whole situation was fishy by itself, but decided against it. "So… what do I call you now? Captain.. Hand?"

That caused him to chuckle.

 _Good. I can make him laugh. Good._

"Killian will do."

Emma could still feel herself shaking. "Okay, Killian, we should get out of here before David decides to give you his 'overprotective dad' speech." She couldn't let David embarrass her like that. Not in front of Hook.

But Killian took initiative. "Well, you can spare yourself the trouble, mate. I can assure you, your daughter couldn't be in better hands."

She almost slapped her forehead.

 _God, Killian. You couldn't have thought of a better choice of words?_

Just like she thought he would, David jumped on the point."That's exactly what I'm worried about, especially now that you have two of them."

Emma rolled her eyes.

 _Oh, God._

"I can take care of myself."

 _Can I?_

She wasn't sure if she could handle being around Hook and not-

"Sure you don't want me to drive?" David said last minute, interrupting her dangerous thoughts.

 _Dangerous is right._

She almost shoved Hook out the door. "Bye.."

 _It was going to be a long night._

 _[X]_

The restaurant was a lot nicer than Emma expected.

She thought this would be Granny's or pizza or some sort of easy, casual scene. Hell, even The Rabbit Hole. She knew Killian was old fashioned, but she didn't expect a pirate to be so fancy.

"Well, Swan? What do you think?"

They hand just walked through the door and her mind was already swimming with new feelings and she was trying to process them all at once, so she spat the first thing that came out of her mind. "I like that it's not Granny's."

 _Great job, Emma. Real smooth._

They both took a seat at a cute little table on the side. He had pulled out the chair for her, another romantic gesture she surely didn't expect to see, and the act added a new straw to the clusterfuck that was her brain at that moment. "I've only seen you go on one date," Hook said, making his way to his seat. "and that was with a flying monkey. Would I have to top that?"

"He set the bar pretty high. He _proposed_ that night."

 _Damnit, Swan. Stop hinting at things you don't know if you want._

Hook only chuckled. "He also tried to kill you."

"Right, there's that."

 _Good. Banter. I can work with banter._

He fidgeted for a second and cleared his throat. "Shall I order us some drinks?"

 _I could really use a drink right now._

"Not tonight," Emma replied, using her better judgment.

Hook smirked. "Why, love? You a bit worried you'll find me even more irresistible after a few libations?" He made eyes at her, and Emma could feel them heating up the pit of her stomach.

 _Damn those eyes straight to hell._

"No…" she covered, hoping he didn't notice the reddening of her cheeks. "I want to stay sober tonight just in case the… Snow Queen decides to crash our date.." The thought of that almost made her ill, considering the date just started and she already felt like she never wanted it to end.

Hooks face fell slightly. "You still think her being here has something to do with you." It wasn't a question, and he didn't need answers, but she was dead set.

"I don't think it; I know it. There was a puddle next to my car this afternoon." She knew she must've sounded ridiculous, and the smile that bloomed on the pirate's face confirmed it.

"A puddle. How's that proof?"

She wanted to press on, but she lost the words in the back of her throat.

"Look, Swan," he continued. "I didn't bring you here to worry about the Snow Queen; I brought you to enjoy the time." He raised his eyebrow and she knew she couldn't argue with him anymore on the subject. That look on a normal day made her knees weak, and now she realized it was just what she needed. He gestured to the waiter for wine and grinned at the her, holding her hands to make her feel safe.

What _didn't_ make her feel safe was when a man bumped right into their table and spilled their drinks.

"Really?" she sighed out, overly annoyed by the sudden interruption. She wanted this night to be perfect, and this was what she perceived as the first of many moments that would get in the way of her and Killian.

But Emma didn't expect to see her date fist his hand in the man's jacket and pull him close, all but spitting in his face. "Apologize to the lady, _mate._ "

"Killian. Hook. It's okay," She didn't want it to be this way. She just wanted a nice date without being reminded who he was.

She noticed the way he let go, like he had blacked out for a minute and wasn't himself, but quickly turned focus to who the man was. "You… You're the thief that took off from the ice cream shop."

Pause.

Then he bolted.

Emma was tempted, so tempted, to run after him. Take down yet another criminal. But then _she_ would be the one sabotaging her own date, and she wouldn't be able to handle that. "Nope. Not gonna do it. We are on a date, and I am not going to let some petty fairytale thief ruin it." She didn't notice Killian staring at his hand as she kept on. "And there's an ice wall around the town! He can't get away! I'll find him. He's not gonna ruin this night." She stopped, breathing slightly scattered, then say that something was wrong. "Killian? Hey. Hook." She grabbed his hand. "It's okay. It's just a glass of wine."

She didn't understand what he was thinking. "Sorry, love. Don't know what got into me."

 _[X]_

The rest of the date hand gone fairly according to plan. The food was amazing, and while Killian still didn't quite understand the modern tastes, Emma figures he enjoyed it, too.

He was gentlemanly enough to walk her up the stairs to her family's apartment, and by that time she could feel her entire body being heated up. Even just his hand in her's sent chills down her spine and she didn't ever want that feeling to stop.

 _What I would do to him…_

She shook her head, clearing her mind of thoughts she couldn't afford to have and turned to face her date. "Well... not bad. You actually managed to make me forget that Storybrooke was under siege from an evil snow queen." She desperately tried to control her breathing as she stayed close to him.

He mentioned something about the thief but she was too lost in his eyes to hear exactly what he said, but she caught the end. "I apologize for overreacting."

She laced her fingers in his, surprised at how good it felt to be able to do that. "Hey. It's okay." Ignoring the thoughts screaming at her to be careful, she then said, "You wanna come in and have coffee my parents, a newborn, and a human ice maker?"

He only chuckled softly in response, and she knew that sneaking in wasn't even an option anymore. "I really need my own place.."

His breath was hot against hers. "I suppose we'll just have to wait until next time."

"Next time?" she teased. "I don't remember asking."

"That's because it's my turn." He was so sure, and she loved that about him. "Will you go out with me again?"

Emma stared into his eyes, answer on her tongue, but instead of words, she answered in the only way she knew how; a kiss. She melted into it, knowing that it would end far too soon, but it's heat spoke millions. Killian held her with both his hands, and she had never felt so protected and close to someone as she had in that moment.

She broke apart after a minute, and she sighed, heart pounding in her chest. "Okay.." She turned to go into the loft and stopped, a shy smile on her face. "Goodnight, Killian."

"Goodnight."

Emma made sure to shut the door lightly, careful not go wake anyone, and she leaned against it and sighed, starting to think over the night and what had just happened when a voice startled her out of her daze.

"So how was it?"

 **A/N: So I've been meaning to finish/post this every since 04x04 was aired, like, forever ago, and I finally got around to it! Just a one-shot with the same dialogue as the show that narrates Emma's thoughts through her and Hook's first date. :) hope you enjoyed it.**

 **No beta. Please excuse mistakes,**

 **I don't own OUAT.**


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